This invention relates to multiple pushbutton switch assemblies, and more particularly to a locking mechanism, interlocking mechanism and terminal configuration of a multiple pushbutton switch assembly.
In one conventional multiple pushbutton switch assembly, sliders are locked by allowing tongue-shaped pieces of a locking plate to engage with saw-tooth-shaped cam grooves formed on the sides of the sliders in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the slider. The recent tendency in manufacturing electronic equipment is to miniaturize it. Accordingly, it has been a desideratum in the art to provide a multiple pushbutton switch assembly which is small in size and can be operated with a small operating force, and which has a short operating stroke. However, with such a conventional multiple pushbutton switch assembly as described above, the operating stroke of the slider cannot be reduced without decreasing the distance between two adjacent cam grooves, and it is difficult from the standpoint of the durability of the cam grooves to reduce the distance between the adjacent cam grooves to 2 mm or less. In addition, the effort to reduce the operating force substantially reaches a limit.